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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369201">Employee Of The Month</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonginseoul/pseuds/jonginseoul'>jonginseoul</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fluff, M/M, Smut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:22:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,995</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonginseoul/pseuds/jonginseoul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun, the perfectionist, thought he would keep his title for as long as he worked at the most influential magazine in South Korea, but when a certain Kim Jongin fucks it up, Baekhyun will do anything to get his revenge.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongin | Kai, Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Employee Of The Month</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Baekhyun stared at the photo on the wall, a proud smile growing on his lips. It’s his fifth time getting the title ‘employee of the month’ but it continues to drive him to do better, continues to stroke his ego. Walking through the halls of Aspect Magazine feels ten times better when you have people staring and whispering behind your back about how great you are. His picture proudly hung on the wall of the huge space filled with cubicles for everyone to see, and Baekhyun had to admit, he looked smoking in this photo.</p><p>‘’How does it feel to see that hanging again? Don’t you get used to it after the fifth time’’ Sehun leaned against the coffee machine as Baekhyun retrieved his cappuccino, shrugging his shoulders. ‘’It’s still as amazing as the first time I suppose’’ He doesn’t want to show it, but he can feel the smile spread from cheek to cheek. Sehun lets out an annoyed groan, slumping against the machine. ‘’I’ve worked here longer than you and never got employee of the month, maybe I should quit’’ Baekhyun chuckled softly, patting the younger on the back. ‘’Come on sour puss, let’s get to work, maybe you’ll get it next month’’ Sehun moaned and pushed him to the side. ‘’I want a divorce’’ ‘’We can’t if we’re not legally married’’ The latter rolled his eyes, ‘’Boohoo’’. They took their own seats at their cubicles, Baekhyun still hearing Sehun groan somewhere in the distance. He arranged the papers neatly on his desk and proceeded to type an article he had been working on.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Byun Baekhyun worked at Aspect Magazine, South Korea’s most influential magazine. They were the first on scene for any event, they interviewed the best celebrities and had the best fashion and make up advice. Baekhyun never thought of himself as someone who was good at writing articles, he always got C’s on his assignments in high school. But in college his talents got picked up by an agent working at Aspect when he submitted an article to his school’s website on why the use of metal straws was so important. It was a simple article, he barely spend an hour writing it. But nonetheless the agent was immensely impressed and contacted him. After working an internship for a month at the magazine, Baekhyun fell in love and never wanted to leave again. After his first month working he got awarded his first employee of the month plague, and four more followed after. Baekhyun was now striving to keep this streak going, no matter what or who may come his way.</p><p>His boss, Park Chanyeol, was a strange fellow. His ‘creative master mind’ as he called it, allowed him to yell and scream at his employees if something was not up to his ‘insanely creative’ standards. The other day he fired somebody for taking a picture of a holiday destination spread at the wrong angle. She was such a nice lady, she was in the cubicle next to him and they chatted a lot when Sehun wasn’t being his whiny self for once. Now she was gone and the cubicle next to him was empty. ‘’I will find somebody to fill that seat soon Baekhyun, don’t worry dear!’’ And with that he had to suck it up and find comfort in talking to Sehun about his lonely love life. That seat would be filled with somebody not as talented as him, Chanyeol promised him. He truly hoped that would be the case, nobody could overtake him, he had to stay on top and have his picture be up for his entire time that he worked that. It’s what his family would want, it what he wants.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Sehun strode over his way when break time rolled around, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. ‘’So lover boy, how did your date go last night?’’ It was Baekhyun’s turn to groan now. ‘’Terrible, absolutely terrible, he had no job and smelled funny’’ Sehun snickered, unpacking his lunch. ‘’That superiority complex of yours is never going to let you have a relationship with someone who is less superior than you, is it?’’ Baekhyun didn’t respond, he simply threw a grain of rice at his colleague. ‘’You’re one to talk Oh Sehun, your last date pretended to go to the bathroom and never came back’’ A grain of rice was now thrown at his head instead. Sehun was a good friend, they just liked to bicker a lot. ‘’By the way did you hear that there’s going to be a new employee this Friday? I heard his articles are amazing’’ Baekhyun cocked his head towards the younger at that sentence, brow raising. ‘’And who might this new employee be?’’ Hearing someone else being given a compliment on their article made the hairs on his back stand up. ‘’No clue, nobody has gotten a full name yet, nor a picture, we’re all trying to find his Facebook but we only know his last name and since there are a million people with the last name ‘Kim’ it’s kind of hard to find him’’ Baekhyun barely heard the last part, he chewed on his lunch in silence and returned to his work. This was not going to be a fun time.</p><p>The remaining day was spend pondering over the new arrival, reading his submission article over and over, analysing it. He came to terms with it when he realized his articles were so much better, comparing the two side by side. His wording was more sleek, his font looked more stylish with the subject and overall Baekhyun realized there was no competition. This made him feel more at ease, knowing his title would not be taken away anytime soon. There would be no way this rookie would have his picture hung up above the door, there was no way. And yet, Baekhyun anxiously read the stranger’s submission article over, and over, and over. Until the words became blurry and he could recite the article almost perfectly.</p><p>He turned off the computer at around eight in the evening when it was time to pack up and get back home. Baekhyun didn’t work during the weekends, he preferred to try and start up his love life or miserably sit on the couch and watch tv. Wherever he went those days, a can of beer accompanied him with every move. Some might call it sad, Baekhyun called it leisure. Being alone wasn’t the worst thing in the world, especially not if you’re a perfectionist. But having someone by your side was sounding real good lately, not being alone during the weekends. It was like a movie, whenever he sat at his window and saw couples holding hands or exchanging a kiss from the streets down below, he felt jealousy. A feeling he barely ever felt, because he was always number one. Going on dates started to get boring, tinder really wasn’t the place to meet someone you really click with. Baekhyun often just wanted to give up and just date Sehun, but he was too much of a little brother to him.</p><p>As he sipped on his beer and thought about his pathetic dating life, the thought of the new employee popped into his mind. After 6 months of working at Aspect, he was still the newest employee on his floor and his department, so getting some new meat would truly take all the focus off him. ‘’He shouldn’t be too bad right? I’m just annoying myself now’’ Baekhyun spoke to himself, watching the sun set a gloomy glare over the city. He was even talking to himself now, it was only getting more pathetic and sad. Baekhyun crushed the can in his hand and dialed Sehun, feeling like escaping the gloom that was settling over his life.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘’Hey there superstar, have you finished the article on the SAF awards yet?’’ Dohwan threw some papers on his desk and slipped him a coffee. After getting drunk for 3 days straight with Sehun, Friday to Sunday, he was irritated and grumpy. Sehun was nowhere to be seen, probably still at the food stall in the city somewhere. Baekhyun was an hour late, no coffee in his system yet and a bulging headache. ‘’Does it look like i have it printed?’’ He groggily replied, breath still smelling like last nights alcohol. ‘’Oh my you smell awful, did you even shower this weekend?’’ Dohwan was a sweetheart, but right now, it was not helping. ‘’I have not even been sober for longer than an hour this weekend, what do you think?’’ Dohwan laughed, patting him on the back. ‘’Luckily your sarcasm is still on point, I’ll tell Chanyeol that the article will be delayed’’ Baekhyun managed to push a small smile towards his colleague before downing his coffee almost in one go, burning his tongue in the process, it tasted bittersweet, but perhaps his headache would calm down.</p><p>Sehun nearly crawled in an hour later, his tie hanging loose and his hair in the worst shape it had ever been. ‘’Oh my god, the fact that we survived this, we deserve an award’’ Sehun slumped in his seat at his cubicle, throwing some papers to the side and slamming his head against the desk. ‘’You good over there?’’ Baekhyun called, waiting for Sehun to pop his head up. ‘’No, not at all, the lady who owned the food stall woke me up this morning by screaming at me to get out of her business’’ Baekhyun snickered softly, typing in the last words to his article. ‘’How did you even get home?’’ Sehun raised his head for probably the first time that day. ‘’I don’t even remember honestly, probably a taxi’’ Sehun was content with that answer and went back to subtly hitting his head against the desk to try and get rid of his headache.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>His picture hung above the opening to the cubicles, his fifth ‘Employee of the month title’ in a row. It proudly hung for everybody to see. He was the last thing you would see before you left the office, a nice goodbye. Baekhyun stared at it for the remainder of the day, his article handed in and ready to be pasted into this month’s issue. Life had been good up to this point, and Baekhyun couldn’t help but feel a smile grow onto his lips. It was the last hour before he was done with work and could go home, the office was still bustling with writers and editor’s, a low ambient noise filling his ears. That was until the door to the office opened up and a man stepped in. Around his age, gorgeous brown locks swept over his forehead, his eyes nearly hidden behind his bangs. He was tall, probably taller than Baekhyun, maybe even taller than Sehun. He looked nervous, a small briefcase clinging in his hands. The office noise died down and every head turned towards the door. Chanyeol burst from his office and stalked his way over to the nervous looking man. ‘’Kim Jongin, it is such a pleasure to finally meet you, will you join me in my office?’’ Baekhyun’s head snapped around to meet Sehun’s eyes, who wiggled his eyebrows in a seductive manner. Baekhyun threw him a ‘I will kill you’ sign and turned back to see Jongin disappear into Chanyeol’s office. He stared at the closed door and heard his colleagues around him start up their chatter again, the noise of a desk chair rolling towards him snapped him out of his trance. Sehun rolled up to him, mischievous smile hinting at his lips. ’’That might be our mysterious Mr. Kim, what are your thoughts, Mr. Byun?’’ Baekhyun raised his hand and punched Sehun’s shoulder harshly, who hissed in pain and rolled away to his own desk slowly. Baekhyun turned his head towards the empty desk next to him, his eyes wide. This would be interesting, very interesting.</p>
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